If you’re new to sports betting, or even if you’re a seasoned pro, it’s easy to make mistakes. Betting can be a fun and profitable pastime, but it’s important to find a good betting site that meets your needs. Not all betting sites are created equal, so it’s important to do your research before signing up.
If you’re into football, for example, AwayGrounds has listed and reviewed the best football betting sites for 2022, which can serve as a great starting point for bettors. However, this is not all there is to sports betting, and you have to be aware of common mistakes before placing a bet.
In this blog post, we’ll look at 6 of the most common mistakes sports bettors make, and how you can avoid them. Whether you’re betting on football, basketball, baseball, or any other sport, following these tips will help you increase your chances of winning. So, let’s get started!
Betting on Your Favorite Team
The first big mistake that many people new to sports betting make is to bet on their favorite team. People choose their favorite teams for a reason; perhaps it’s from the city they live in, maybe the team wins pretty often, or maybe there are athletes on the team that the person likes.
However, betting on your favorite team isn’t always the best thing to do, especially if you haven’t researched to validate whether they are likely to win or not.
Betting Without Doing Research
Perhaps one of the biggest mistakes that any sports bettor could make is to bet without doing any actual research first. Why? Because without doing research you are betting blind, and you don’t have the information at your disposal to determine whether the bet is good or bad.
There is a lot that you could research; how well the team has been doing lately, which team members have been missing practice, are any of them going through emotional situations, has anyone in the team has been traded, and more.
Betting on Favorites
The next mistake that people make who are new to sports betting is to bet on whichever team is said to be the favorite for the game. Why? Because you are trying to get value for your money, and if you are betting on the favorite without doing actual research, how can you be sure that the team will win?
While it’s not a bad idea to bet on the favorite, since they will most likely win, you might be able to make more money by doing your research. You might find something that alerts you to the fact that the underdog might win, which means more money for you.
Betting for the Sake of Betting
A massive mistake that a lot of new sports bettors make is to bet for the sake of betting, without actually doing research. Remember, you don’t always have to bet, and when you bet for the sake of betting, the motivation to win is gone, which leads to sloppy research.
It might be a good idea, in the long run, to not always bet, especially if you are not sure whether the bet is good or bad. Not only will this save you money in the long, but it will also save you from feeling any frustration.
Expecting to Win Every Time
Something that many new sports bettors think is that they will be making thousands with each game they bet on. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case, and like most sports, it’s a long-term game. What does this mean? This means that you are more likely to see profits over a slightly longer period.
This might be a good time to evaluate why you are betting; is it to make money or have fun? Understanding why you are betting will help you to make better bets, as well as handle your money better.
Chasing Losses
That leads to the next tip; never chase losses. Chasing losses is basically when you bet even larger amounts of money to make up for money that you have lost whilst betting. It rarely ever works, and almost always leads to more money being lost.
If you haven’t won a bet today, it’s a far better idea to call it quits and come back with a fresh state of mind, and after having done some more research. Remember, you aren’t always going to win. More than this, you should set up some sort of bankroll management system; something like betting 1-5% of your total bankroll with each bet is a good place to start.
